Weather eye: a storm of inspiration

The weather has been hugely influential in music, and one of the most famous examples is Amazing Grace by John Newton, who was inspired by a violent storm.

Newton was born in London in 1724, the son of a merchant ship captain. He had a wretched life, though, and eventually became enslaved in West Africa. Rescued by a friend of his father, he sailed on the Greyhound, carrying beeswax and wood. In early March 1748 the ship was struck by a fierce storm in the Atlantic and, as Newton lay asleep in his bunk, waves crashed over the deck and the cabins flooded below.

Newton rushed towards the deck when another sailor ahead of him was swept overboard. As the wind and waves battered the…